Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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404. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the status of the implementation of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015; the timeframe for future commencements under the Act; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34242/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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The setting-up of the Legal Services Regulatory Authority, whose establishment day was set by Order for 1 October 2016, has been underway since July 2016. At that time, Parts 1 and 2 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 were commenced to get the new Authority underway, particularly in terms of its nomination and appointment with the necessary motions of approval of the Houses of the Oireachtas. As part of the commencement of Part 2 of the 2015 Act, the Law Society, the Bar Council and the Honorable Society of the King's Inns furnished the Legal Services Regulatory Authority with copies of their professional codes as required within one month of the Authority's establishment under section 23(6)(a). In December 2016 sections 118 to 120 of the 2015 Act were commenced to enable the conduct of public consultations and reports by the new Regulatory Authority within the statutory periods concerned. These relate to Legal Partnerships (between solicitors and barristers or barristers and barristers - solicitors can already operate partnerships), Multi-Disciplinary Practices (where legal practitioners can provide their services together with other non-legal services providers) and certain restrictions on the work of barristers. The Authority, for which initial office accommodation has been provided by my Department along with the secondment of an officer at Assistant Principal level, also appointed an Interim Chief Executive on 1 January 2016. It is currently conducting a public recruitment campaign for a long-term Chief Executive. The Authority has met seven times since its inaugural meeting on 26 October 2016 with its most recent meeting on 11 July 2017. Funding support of €1 million was provided to the new Authority by my Department in December 2016. This is being done on a strictly recoupable basis as the Authority will be self-funding by levy with a similar allocation available to the Authority under my Department's Vote for this year.

On 31 March 2017, the Regulatory Authority presented respective reports under sections 118 and 119 to the then Minister for Justice and Equality and these have been laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. These reports, which were completed under very tight statutory deadlines, are historical as the first formal outputs of the Authority in the discharge of its legislative functions. They are also available along with minutes of meetings and other information on the web page of the new Regulatory Authority which is under development at www.LSRA.ie. On 6 April 2017 the Authority commenced its public consultations process under section 120 of the Act about certain restrictions on the work of barristers - these arise with regard to the holding of clients monies and to the direct provision of services to a client in relation to contentious matters. More recently, the Authority has submitted its first Annual Report which, under the relevant terms of the Act, covers its activities for the quarter since establishment on 1 October to the end of 2016 and this has also been laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

Alongside these developments, the working focus right now is on the managed roll-out of the Authority's remaining functions with the matching development of its organisational capacities and office and staffing resources. This includes, under Part 10 of the 2015 Act, the introduction of a more transparent legal costs regime and the parallel transition, within the courts system, of the Office of the Taxing-Master to that of the Legal Costs Adjudicators; the establishment of a Roll of Practising Barristers under Part 9; the introduction of new regulations for the advertising of legal services under section 218 and the separate introduction, by my Department, of Pre-Action Protocols in medical negligence cases under Part 15 for which the relevant consultations by my Department are about to begin. Following these steps, the key structural reforms of Part 6 of the Act relating to public complaints, professional conduct and the appointment of the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, will be commenced.

Earlier this month, the Legal Services Regulatory Authority completed its independent recruitment process for the appointment of a full-time Chief Executive. I understand that the relevant practical arrangements are now in train and that the successful candidate will be announced and appointed by the Authority in September. I can also confirm that representatives of the Legal Services Regulatory Authority have again met with senior officials of my Department on 10 July 2017 including by way of providing an update on work that is being done towards the phased sequencing and commencement of the remaining provisions of the Legal Services Act. Today, I am also meeting the Chair of the Legal Services Regulatory Authority, Dr. Don Thornhill. As part of our discussions, we will review the work that has been done by the Authority during the nine months since its appointment in October including its appointment of an Interim Chief Executive and the public consultations and reports that it has been obliged to undertake within the strict deadlines that apply under the 2015 Act and have been outlined earlier in this Reply.

The Chairperson and members of the Legal Services Regulatory Authority, its Interim Chief Executive and my Department continue to work closely to ensure that we can successfully coordinate the identification of the necessary steps and commencements by the Department, and the delivery, by the Authority as the new independent statutory regulator, of the various remaining provisions concerned. While it remains the intention that the Legal Services Regulatory Authority will come into substantive regulatory mode at the earliest opportunity, the phased start-up of its various functions will continue to need careful project management and the ongoing identification, in conjunction with the Authority, of the more specific delivery dates for the respective functions involved. Indeed, I am aware that the Authority is giving strong priority to these aspects. In light of this week's meetings and respecting the Authority's independence in the exercise of its functions, I am confident that this is something that will take place over the coming weeks and will be brought to fruition in conjunction with the appointment of the Authority's newly recruited full-time Chief Executive.